Anthem Underwhelming

[sblair]

Just got off the 12/12 sailing of Anthem. I see lots of other glowing reviews of it here. For us it was okay, but I really wasn't overly impressed with it. I think in many ways it has gone backwards from our experiences on Allure actually. Based on our previous sailings I found it to be under-Wowing. I would definitely book an Oasis-class ship before I book another Quantum-class.

 

Cabin:

We were in a Superior Grand Suite. My parents where in a Spa Junior. We've stayed in Grand Suites on Allure in the past. Even though our cabin was supposed to be a step up from a GS, I found it to be a significant step down from the GS on Allure. The room layout was poor and cramped and missing a number of amenities that were in the Allure GS. My parent's Spa Jr was actually better laid out and more spacious than ours. Even they commented they were glad they were in their cabin and not ours.

 

Coastal Kitchen:

EXCELLENT. It was the one thing I can say was significantly improved over other ships we have been on.

 

Execution:

We ran into lots of general execution issues, poor attention to detail and lack of follow through on things we were told would happen. A lot of it was just poor communication between ship staff we found.

 

Shows:

I'm a big fan of Theatre and Broadway shows. I'm in the business. While I don't like every show I see it is very rare for me to say I "hate" one or that it has no redeeming value. We Will Rock You is one of those few exceptions. It is one of the most dreadful shows I've ever seen. I used to blame my opinion of it on seeing the bad Vegas production of it 11 years ago. However, this one was actually worse! I used to say that WWRY was like a bad Six Flags show with a broadway production budget. But honestly I've seen better high school theatre. There's a reason why it never played on B-Way. I actually love Queen also, but this show is just a trainwreck. Before it was over I kept hoping for an iceberg to save us, but no such luck. No idea why RCI chose this show with so many other great options they could have picked from.

 

The other shows: Spectra, The Gift were okay, but I found them (the Gift in particular) to be far below the other original shows they've done on Allure.

 

Technology:

Like most companies, RCI is promoting the thing they actually aren't very good at. The RoyalIQ app is a complete trainwreck. It had numerous issues from major modules being disabled or not working, to slow performance, to missing/incomplete data, to just less than useful information. I cornered the IT Director for the ship at a suite guest reception and made him sit down and go through the issues 1 by 1 on Day 2. He was completely unaware that the Phone module had been left disabled. 30 minutes later he had it back on. I pointed out numerous other issues they really weren't aware of. I ended up having to teach the Concerige staff and Guest Services Director how to call the RoyalIQ app from the ship based phones because no one knew it was possible.

 

Most of our activity and show reservations I found were silently deleted at one point and had to fight like hell to get a decent slot assigned back to us for the North Star. The poor technology was bad enough, but then I ended up having to push quite hard to get them to make things right again, which was really frustrating, especially for being in a suite.

 

The Wayfinder panels by the elevators were also quite buggy and far less usable than the ones on Allure which worked quite well.

 

The one technology exception was Voom. It worked quite well and I was really happy with it.

 

Bionic Bar:

Again their high tech feature they keep touting was only half working. I'm sure many people didn't notice it but half the automation and the statistics system for it have been broken for over a month. The robot still mixes the drinks, but most of the other stuff it is supposed to do actually don't work and haven't worked for a while.

 

Johnny Rockets:

I love some JR's but I HATE what they have done with it on this ship. I knew it was cut down to the point there was really nothing left on the menu I wanted, but was even more disappointed you couldn't even get an Oreo shake anymore. It was just chocolate, vanilla, strawberry.

 

Cruise Director:

We had Abe on this one. It was a very refreshing change from Ken Rush on the last 2 cruises. I actually liked Abe. He totally reminds me of the Michael Scott character from The Office. I enjoyed his humor and random spontaneity.

 

So there's my 2 cents on it. If I hadn't sailed on Oasis-class ships most recently then my opinion of Anthem might have been a lot different, but coming from an Oasis-class for my last 2 cruises I found it to be a bit of a disappointment. I also feel the execution and attention to detail from RCI staff just seems to be going down every year too.

[newjoisey]

thank you for your review ,we too were on the 12/12 and i like the description underwhelming and agree. We usually cruise with cunard and RC did not win us over.I must confess:oi put on 5 pounds eating monster size breakfasts every morning in windjammer. the trick to that place is to get there as the doors open........its the cleanest time there:eek:. i am still going through bacon and sausage withdrawal:D We might try rc again [might] .my wife tried about 99% of the 20 year old rides/attractions:p and she is still sore [we are ? mature age;)]we do not regret going on the cruise

[jonj]

Were there enough different choices on the menu at Coastal Kitchen to dine there most of the nights? We plan on trying the included restaurants but we are on a 9nt cruise and if we aren't crazy about the food in those restaurants we will eat the remainder of our meals in Coastal Kitchen, yes we are in a full suite

 

Thank you

Edited December 23, 2015 by jonj

[sblair]

Were there enough different choices on the menu at Coastal Kitchen to dine there most of the nights? We plan on trying the included restaurants but we are on a 9nt cruise and if we aren't crazy about the food in those restaurants we will eat the remainder of our meals in Coastal Kitchen, yes we are in a full suite

 

Thank you

 

We were on a 7 nighter. We did Wonderland and Chops and the rest in Coastal. They changed the menu in Coastal on Day 4. Talking to others in Coastal on the ship that tried the complimentary restaurants too they said it was a mistake and were sticking with Coastal for the rest of the cruise.

[jonj]

We were on a 7 nighter. We did Wonderland and Chops and the rest in Coastal. They changed the menu in Coastal on Day 4. Talking to others in Coastal on the ship that tried the complimentary restaurants too they said it was a mistake and were sticking with Coastal for the rest of the cruise.

 

Thanks for your thoughts on the food, much appreciated. However since everyone's tastes are different we want to try it out for ourselves. If we don't care for the regular restaurants we will dine at CK the rest of the cruise. We don't travel until June so hopefully the reviews get better

This will only be our second RC cruise, the first was on the Explorer 10 years ago and we ate in the main dining room every day and enjoyed it. We chose the Anthem for a few reason, first it is going out of NJ and with six people (kids are bringing a friend each) no airfare was a big plus. Second it is a college graduation celebration and we will have four 21 year olds and I think they will love the ship and all the things to do

Edited December 23, 2015 by jonj

[Nessa1dc]

Thank you for your review....I will be visiting her on January 3, 2016 for 12 days. Very Excited.

 

What I get from your "underwhelming" point of view is that it is important that if we see something wrong, we need to tell someone...that way things get fixed.

 

Once again, thank you and I still hope you had a good time.

[sblair]

Thank you for your review....I will be visiting her on January 3, 2016 for 12 days. Very Excited.

 

What I get from your "underwhelming" point of view is that it is important that if we see something wrong, we need to tell someone...that way things get fixed.

 

Once again, thank you and I still hope you had a good time.

 

That is my approach. If something is messed up to the point that I'm having to deal with it then I make a point going to someone at the top to address the root issue so that hopefully it won't affect others (including me) in the future.

 

We did have a good time, but I had to make 2 trips too many to meet with the head of Guest Services. I do everything I can to avoid ever having to go to Guest Services on a cruise. We were in a suite, so I expect any issues we encounter to be handled by the Suite Concierges. However, that never worked out so I was down in Guest Services myself dealing with things. As I told the Guest Services Director, I don't expect any special treatment as guest for being in a Suite, but what I DO EXPECT is that when there is a problem on THEIR side that they fix it without a lot of excuses or me having to hassle with it. In that regard they failed several times.

[Turtles06]

Were there enough different choices on the menu at Coastal Kitchen to dine there most of the nights? We plan on trying the included restaurants but we are on a 9nt cruise and if we aren't crazy about the food in those restaurants we will eat the remainder of our meals in Coastal Kitchen, yes we are in a full suite

 

Thank you

 

We were on the 8-night Anthem TA. Since we were in a Spa JS, we were allowed to have dinner (not other meals) in Coastal Kitchen. Wow, what a great perk!!! Fabulous food, great service. We ate there 3 of the 8 nights. We would have eaten there more, but as much as we loved CK and as much as we found the quality of the food and the service in some of the "complimentary" venues to be mediocre (or worse), we found the CK menu (two menus, actually, but with a good bit of overlap) too limited (for us) to have most of our dinners there. (We did eat at Chops one night, so that was half the cruise.)

 

I'll add that we particularly loved the lobster tails and rack of lamb at CK, as well as the dark chocolate tiramisu and the salted caramel pudding. And all of the appetizers we tried were great.

 

Anthem is a stunningly beautiful, fabulous ship (some of the food not so much); have a great cruise! (I'm sorry that the OP had a different experience.)

Edited December 23, 2015 by Turtles06

[Overtyme]

I suspect that there won't be many adjustments or changes by RC until they see a visible decline in occupancy.

Given cycle times and how far in advance people book, I'd say that would be about a year and change from the US deployment.

[Baron Barracuda]

Sadly, barring major additional problems Anthem's uniqueness and the convenience for many of sailing from NJ will keep her occupancy and pricing high. It would be interesting to see what would happen if they ever relocated her to Port Canaveral where she'd face legitimate competition.

[Alter Ego]

Always interested in hearing opinions of specialty restaurants. How did you like Wonderland? I understand Prime Table is supposed to be in a section of Chops - how did that look? Meaning, was it set up as just another table in the corner or was it a private separate area?

 

Thank you!

[tennislvr8]

Great description, I was underwhelmed too, but as I have said before would cruise with her again. I register for the puzzle activity on Royal IQ then it disappeared. When I realized it and tried to re-register all spots were gone. I second fussed myself and thought I registered myself. I often do things in my head and assume I did them for real.

[sblair]

Great description, I was underwhelmed too, but as I have said before would cruise with her again. I register for the puzzle activity on Royal IQ then it disappeared. When I realized it and tried to re-register all spots were gone. I second fussed myself and thought I registered myself. I often do things in my head and assume I did them for real.

 

It is apparently well known at this point that your reservations for things will get randomly deleted. Don't expect too much help from Guest Services in remedying it though. They did for me with NorthStar but this was after I had to really push the issue.

[sblair]

Always interested in hearing opinions of specialty restaurants. How did you like Wonderland? I understand Prime Table is supposed to be in a section of Chops - how did that look? Meaning, was it set up as just another table in the corner or was it a private separate area?

 

Thank you!

 

Wonderland was good. It is VERY different though but in the end everyone liked it. Not sure about what Prime Table is...

[Alter Ego]

Wonderland was good. It is VERY different though but in the end everyone liked it. Not sure about what Prime Table is...

 

Thanks for your response. I feel like I haven't seen much on the specialties - people seem to talk about Coastal Kitchen more.

 

Rather than "Chef's Table", Anthem apparently has "Prime Table" and it sounds like it's an elevated steak house experience. Haven't seen a review on it yet (although I admit I didn't search for one).

[Overtyme]

So much of the negative reviews seem to be around the staff and their lack of attention.

This should be an easy fix and really needs to be addressed at the top.

The other negative reviews seem to be around technology failures (both on and off-board).

I really haven't seen much negativity about the ship itself.

These seem to be very easy fixes and really need some attention at the corporate level.

Staff is under contract, so maybe there will be a staff refresh soon?🙄

[jonj]

We were on the 8-night Anthem TA. Since we were in a Spa JS, we were allowed to have dinner (not other meals) in Coastal Kitchen. Wow, what a great perk!!! Fabulous food, great service. We ate there 3 of the 8 nights. We would have eaten there more, but as much as we loved CK and as much as we found the quality of the food and the service in some of the "complimentary" venues to be mediocre (or worse), we found the CK menu (two menus, actually, but with a good bit of overlap) too limited (for us) to have most of our dinners there. (We did eat at Chops one night, so that was half the cruise.)

 

I'll add that we particularly loved the lobster tails and rack of lamb at CK, as well as the dark chocolate tiramisu and the salted caramel pudding. And all of the appetizers we tried were great.

 

Anthem is a stunningly beautiful, fabulous ship (some of the food not so much); have a great cruise! (I'm sorry that the OP had a different experience.)

 

Thank you, just the info I was looking for

[karmacats]

chefs table/prime table/whatever it's called these days is in the back of chops. it's in a totally separate, walled-off room, but has glass doors where you can see through to the restaurant. we did not try it, but saw the room while in chops.

 

we also tried to register for puzzle break using royaliq and although the app said it went through, it never showed on any of our schedules. on day 2 we checked with the concierge and it was definitely not on our schedules, so he reserved it for us, but at that point most games were sold out so our options were limited. so, if you are interested, sign up early, and do it in person - i think you can do it at a desk in the seaplex. it was one of the highlights of our trip and definitely worth doing. if you don't get a slot, you can show up at the room a few minutes before one of the scheduled games and see if there are standby slots - 5 people got into our group that way, as a reservation of 5 didn't show.

 

 

So much of the negative reviews seem to be around the staff and their lack of attention.

This should be an easy fix and really needs to be addressed at the top.

The other negative reviews seem to be around technology failures (both on and off-board).

I really haven't seen much negativity about the ship itself.

These seem to be very easy fixes and really need some attention at the corporate level.

Staff is under contract, so maybe there will be a staff refresh soon?🙄

 

for the most part, we thought the staff was great. we had a rude host at chops, but otherwise, everyone was wonderful. the servers were way overworked - as my mom would say, they were running around like chickens without their heads - but even so, were friendly, polite, and fairly prompt with the food. other than the puzzle room, we really didn't have much issue with technology; the chat feature on royaliq didn't work for the first day or two, but otherwise we didn't have any tech problems.

 

our biggest complaint was lack of activities, and activities at weird times. on quantum i read half a book because i had no time to laze around and read; on anthem i read 3 books. (not that reading books on a cruise is a bad thing. :) ) we also didn't like we will rock you, but that's just a personal preference thing - we really liked spectra's and the gift.

 

our other major complaint was food quality, which seems to have gone down drastically since quantum, especially in the beef department.

 

obviously, each sailing, and each person on each sailing, will have different issues. i've heard plenty re tech and staff; we just didn't have them personally. what i think it adds up to is really growing pains; eventually everything will get straightened out and the ship will be fantastic. i just don't think they are there yet. (the possible exception to that is food quality - it seems to be going down across the fleet.)

[Zrf80]

It is apparently well known at this point that your reservations for things will get randomly deleted. Don't expect too much help from Guest Services in remedying it though. They did for me with NorthStar but this was after I had to really push the issue.

 

My Northstar experience was worse. On our Daily Compass Day 6, it said the Northstar would be open til 7, with no reservations required after 1pm. Having an 11 month old (and knowing she would not be aloowed on it), we booked her for babysitting at 5pm. We drop her off, go upstairs and wait behind a line for our turn at 5pm. At 5:45, a crew member comes to us, and says that the people ahead of us would be the last to go up and that we're tough out of luck. I tell him about my babysitting issues, and that we had come here at 5pm strategically knowing that it would give the crew 2 more hours of flying the Northstar. The guy tells me too bad....I ask for management and they come down and give me an excuse that lines usually close 1 hour before closing time because it takes one hour for the crew to finish taking all the guests up. I proceed to tell him that the daily compass says that the Northstar closes at 777! and that we came at 555! which is more than 2 hrs before closing. He replies that he understands but next time I should come even earlier.

 

*** ? I was very upset. Sad part. Next day its cold and rainy cause we've entered the waters of the North Atlantic, and now the Northstar is closed. I saw the crewman on deck that day and he couldn't even make eye contact.

 

Pathetic.

[sblair]

My Northstar experience was worse. On our Daily Compass Day 6, it said the Northstar would be open til 7, with no reservations required after 1pm. Having an 11 month old (and knowing she would not be aloowed on it), we booked her for babysitting at 5pm. We drop her off, go upstairs and wait behind a line for our turn at 5pm. At 5:45, a crew member comes to us, and says that the people ahead of us would be the last to go up and that we're tough out of luck. I tell him about my babysitting issues, and that we had come here at 5pm strategically knowing that it would give the crew 2 more hours of flying the Northstar. The guy tells me too bad....I ask for management and they come down and give me an excuse that lines usually close 1 hour before closing time because it takes one hour for the crew to finish taking all the guests up. I proceed to tell him that the daily compass says that the Northstar closes at 777! and that we came at 555! which is more than 2 hrs before closing. He replies that he understands but next time I should come even earlier.

 

*** ? I was very upset. Sad part. Next day its cold and rainy cause we've entered the waters of the North Atlantic, and now the Northstar is closed. I saw the crewman on deck that day and he couldn't even make eye contact.

 

Pathetic.

 

Sadly, that doesn't shock me in the least....

[AdvGirl]

So much of the negative reviews seem to be around the staff and their lack of attention.

This should be an easy fix and really needs to be addressed at the top.

The other negative reviews seem to be around technology failures (both on and off-board).

I really haven't seen much negativity about the ship itself.

These seem to be very easy fixes and really need some attention at the corporate level.

Staff is under contract, so maybe there will be a staff refresh soon?🙄

 

Service is a direct reflection of management expectations. Although some staff may be sub par it is not these exceptions that are the issue. Management needs to set clear standards and train and counsel staff to maintain those standards. So change crew and not management will result in the same level of service.

 

Also at least for many RCL crew that have worked RCL for a while Quantum/Anthem is different, so training is even more important.

 

Don't shut the staff shoot the manager!:eek:

[MoyCoy]

That is my approach. If something is messed up to the point that I'm having to deal with it then I make a point going to someone at the top to address the root issue so that hopefully it won't affect others (including me) in the future.

 

We did have a good time, but I had to make 2 trips too many to meet with the head of Guest Services. I do everything I can to avoid ever having to go to Guest Services on a cruise. We were in a suite, so I expect any issues we encounter to be handled by the Suite Concierges. However, that never worked out so I was down in Guest Services myself dealing with things. As I told the Guest Services Director, I don't expect any special treatment as guest for being in a Suite, but what I DO EXPECT is that when there is a problem on THEIR side that they fix it without a lot of excuses or me having to hassle with it. In that regard they failed several times.

 

 

We were trying to decide of we should sail a 5 day on the Anthem in a GS to Bermuda or a 7 day on NCL Breakaway to Bermuda in a FWD Penthouse. We are RCL loyalist. There is only $ 468 dollar difference between the cruises. That is about the price of a decent hotel in timesquare for 1 night- ouch!!! Thank you for the info. We are sailing the Harmony next year because we LOVED the allure a few years back.

Edited January 10, 2016 by MoyCoy

[Overtyme]

It's always good to try new things. I would take 2 more days of cruising and the penthouse, but from a RC forum, you probably won't get the same reaction.

[denatravels]

We were trying to decide of we should sail a 5 day on the Anthem in a GS to Bermuda or a 7 day on NCL Breakaway to Bermuda in a FWD Penthouse. We are RCL loyalist. There is only $ 468 dollar difference between the cruises. That is about the price of a decent hotel in timesquare for 1 night- ouch!!! Thank you for the info. We are sailing the Harmony next year because we LOVED the allure a few years back.

 

 

Another vote for the breakaway-- the two extra days seals it.

[destiny217]

Breakaway, I think you will really like the perks of The Haven. Plus they are offering the beverage, dining, wifi and shore excursions packages for free right now for Haven bookings.

Edited January 10, 2016 by destiny217